In recent months I have become aware of the amount of people I know that have become disillusioned with God and seemingly fallen away from the faith. The people who I do know reasonably well have at some point in the past been disappointed with a decision that they fully expected to be made in a way that it wasn’t. I have some empathy with these people although at the same time my own flesh cries out in irritation that they can blame God for making a decision that ultimately has their best interests in mind. When we cry out to God for something are we then only going to accept what we have already decided in our own heart. This is at best immature and at worse unbelief that God cannot do anything he wishes. After-all this is what we give him permission to do when we ask his advice.

Forgive me if it sounds as though I have a rather innocent or idealistic view about God but I speak with some authority in following Jesus in my own life. I have been disillusioned and it’s not a nice place to be but the thing I have always done is accept that my disappointment is a learning curve and one that will place me in the hands of the Father who knows better than I for my future. When we realise that we are on this earth to further the Glory of the Father then everything else, in my view, pails into insignificance.

I pray that when the Glory of God falls on this nation and the world needs answers to problems they cannot even fathom, I hope the church as individuals can have the maturity to encourage those that need to be encouraged. I pray that the encouragers are there in abundance in order to promote the love of God in such a way that we can be assured that the church promotes God as eternal Father and not someone who dashes people’s dreams and visions.

Just as an aside, Psalm 37:4 says “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart” the word desire comes from 2 original French words “De” meaning of and “Sire” meaning Lord or Father. So the desires of my heart are placed there by God himself. However, in the learning and living of this passage I have also come to realise that it is very easy to misunderstand how Father wants to use the dreams and desires he places in our hearts. This is the key to overcoming disappointment, draw close to him and never be disappointed again.